The present invention relates generally to a drive pulley assembly for a belt-type conveyor, and more particularly to a drive pulley assembly having an internal mounting means for mounting the conveyor pulley to a conveyor frame.
Typically, a belt-type conveyor includes a pair of pulleys or drums rotatably mounted to a frame. A conveyor belt for conveying articles is entrained around the pulleys. Usually, one of the pulleys will be a driven pulley and one will be an idler or non-driven pulley. The driven pulley may include a motor and gear assembly contained inside the pulley so that no external drive is needed. By placing the motor and gear assembly inside the pulley, the relatively large amount of space taken up by conventional external drive arrangements is saved. The reduction in the space requirement results in smaller conveyors without any reduction in the size of the conveyor belt.
Even though the size of a belt conveyor has been significantly reduced in recent years, there is still a great demand for even smaller conveyors. One way to make the conveyor smaller would be to reduce the width of the conveyor belt and pulleys which would result in a corresponding reduction in the overall width of the conveyor assembly. However, this solution is at best a compromise, since the throughput of the conveyor is diminished. It would be far more desirable to reduce the width of the conveyor without any reduction in the width of the conveyor belt.